Every manufacturing company must deal with payroll. Payroll is processed outside of DBA, either using the payroll module in your existing accounting system or by an outside payroll service provider.

DBA does not include a payroll module, for two reasons:

First, payroll is a highly specialized application that is best handled by major vendors such as Intuit, Paychex, or ADP that keep up with the frequent updates and myriad tax and legal issues associated with payroll.

Second, job costing in DBA has no direct connection with payroll and therefore integrated payroll is not a manufacturing system requirement.

Here we are looking at the Accounting Configuration screen.

If you wish to continue processing payroll within your existing accounting system, the payroll module is tightly integrated with payables, banking, and the general ledger, which makes it difficult to use in stand-alone fashion. In this case, we recommend using our Financial Transfer option, which enables you to continue using your existing accounting system for the financial applications of receivables, payables, banking, overall general ledger, and payroll.

For more details on the Financial Transfer, see our Financial Transfer Option video.

If you wish to use the DBA financial modules so that all your accounting is done within a single integrated system, we recommend changing from in-house payroll software to a payroll service. Increasingly, companies are outsourcing payroll processing to payroll service providers such as Paychex or ADP because of the convenience, efficiency, and low cost.

When you outsource payroll, the general ledger in DBA or your existing system, whichever you decide to use, is updated after each payroll run by a journal entry or journal import to reflect your payroll liabilities and expenses. Only account totals need to be entered or imported.

If your service provider provides an export file with account totals, you can use the Payroll Import screen to create the journal entry after each payroll run.

So keep in mind that with DBA, payroll is an independent financial function that has no direct connection with job costing.

If you wish to continue using your existing payroll module, we recommend staying with your existing accounting system for financial applications so that payroll can remain integrated with your payables, banking, and general ledger.

If you use a payroll service, payroll is a stand-alone application that works equally well with the DBA financials or the financial modules in your existing accounting system.